Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong said this was the outcome of a study conducted by I-CeLLs, the International Centre for Law and Legal Studies of Malaysia under the auspices of the Attorney-General’s Chambers.

He said I-CeLLs had engaged the expertise of professor emeritus of criminology Roger Hood of the University of Oxford for the research.

During the ministerial question time, he said the death sentence, once executed, could not be reversed. He also highlighted the risk of innocent people being sent to the gallows.

“There was a case in Malaysia where an accused was sentenced to death based on false evidence given by the key witness. Although the conviction was set aside because of the false evidence, the case is an example that the innocent can be sentenced to death,” he said.

He was replying to Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam) on the government’s justification for proposing the abolition of the death sentence and whether a detailed study had been done on the matter.

The minister said the proposed abolition of the death sentence was also an effort to comply with international human rights norms.

To a supplementary question from Wee who asked why the rush to get the death sentence abolished, Liew reiterated that it was ineffective as a deterrent to crime.

“In the many drug cases brought to court, the death sentence has not been a deterrent because many more have been caught for drug trafficking,” he said.

He also said the abolition of the death sentence would not result in convicts being arbitrarily released as they would still have to serve the appropriate sentence.